A group of black students at the University of California Berkeley are now demanding that one of the buildings on the campus be renamed after Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther and the first woman on the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists.
Shakur who’s real name is Joanne Deborah Chesimard, is wanted for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973.
But these black activists at UC Berkeley say she is a hero.
Black students at UC Berkeley often feel isolated and even oppressed, says a campus group that wants the nation’s premier public university to step up recruitment of African American students and improve support for them.
So in the time-honored tradition of Berkeley activism, the Black Student Union hammered out 10 demands, delivered them to the chancellor, and set a deadline to meet them.
“If we do not receive a written response from Chancellor (Nick) Dirks addressing in detail each of our individual demands as they were presented, by 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, we will understand that the Chancellor has not prioritized the dire needs of Black students on this campus,” the students wrote in a press release.
The demands include hiring nine people, including two black psychologists experienced in racial discrimination and advisers to recruit and mentor black students and student athletes; creating an African American Student Resource Center; and — in a different vein — renaming a building after Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther and the first woman on the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists.
To the students, Shakur is no terrorist. She’s a victim and ally who gives voice to their pain.
….The students call Shakur “an icon of resistance within oppressed communities (who) represents Black resilience in the face of unadulterated state-sanctioned violence.”
Naming a building at a publicly supported university after a terrorist and murderer is a crime against law abiding people everywhere.